The Laughing Man
by Nine By Two
Summary: Something from a short story has jumped out of the pages of its book without anyone knowing. But why does it have to terrorize an innocent household? Upon reminding Levy that she owes him a favor, Gajeel takes her and Lily along on a job to find out what exactly it was that got into the house. Suspicion and confusion grow as they try to figure it out. (Rating may or may not change)
1. Introduction

_I can't smell him…_ Gajeel thought as he grew anxious. The rustling of the grass and the breaking of twigs under his pursuer's feet were audible from Gajeel's hiding spot in the dark forest.

_What does he want?_

Gajeel could hear slightly echoing chuckles from a good forty meters away; ones that he had heard before. The faint chortles sounded like those of an energetic maniac who couldn't wait to twist a knife into the mage's vulnerable stomach again. The iron dragon slayer at the moment was holding his breath and praying that he wouldn't be found. His rapid heartbeat sent waves of nervousness all throughout his body, and for the first time in years, he was scared. Did Levy manage to get any information out of their hostage, though? Hopefully she was still safe and sound back at the-

"_Gajeel?"_

His heart stopped. That's Levy's voice…

"Gajeel, answer me! Where are you?" she called out. He was so nervous that he couldn't even smell her. He was about to get up from the shrub he was hiding in to look for her until he saw her standing just a few meters in front of him. The two made eye contact for a brief moment as Gajeel motioned for her to be quiet, because something was following them.

Then everything became quiet. The wind no longer blew, the birds no longer stirred. Levy no longer talked and the stalker was no longer heard. Gajeel reached his hand out for Levy to pull her into the shrub with him. He extended his arms out to her. She then looked straight into his eyes with a sudden realization:

Something was behind her.

Everything after that went by much faster as Gajeel saw a maniac's wide-eyed, yet masked face just behind the girl that he wanted to keep away from harm.

"_No…"_

* * *

**A/N: **I start off with a preview because 1: I need to get myself motivated to write more (although I have the entire story already planned out), and 2: to give you guys a heads up on what this story is about.

You don't have to, but I **strongly** recommend you read the short story called _The Laughing Man_ by J.D. Salinger. It's only about 5k words so it's not too bad!

If you need help finding it online, search "The Laughing Man Online Text" into Google, and click on the link from ae-lib; it should be the first link to show. This story is originally from the book called _Nine Stories_ by J.D. Salinger.

I know it sounds annoying to look up another story just to read this fanfic, but I hope you guys stay in touch! I will update soon :)


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Settling**

* * *

_A couple of days ago..._

"I can't believe I'm stuck with you," Levy said while struggling to drag something heavy on the floor and down the road.

"Hey, Shrimp, I said I'm sorry," Gajeel said as he tried without success to cross his arms around his chest. He frowned and was clearly not truly apologetic for what had happened prior to being tied up by Levy. "Get me out of this thing."

"Not until my arms get tired," Levy responded with a similar frown and pout.

"Fine, then I'll make them tired." Gajeel started to wriggle around in the magic, binding letters that were wrapped around him. "Constrict," they spelled. That's right: it was Gajeel that Levy was currently dragging along the streets. She had him by the collar now after having to calm him down while he caused a ruckus in a nearby hotel on this sunny day. She struggled to continue pulling the large man.

"Ugh, I'm leaving you here," she said exasperatedly as she let go of him. Gajeel turned a wrong way while wriggling when she let go of him, causing him to face-plant on the floor as she proceeded to walk away in a huff. Gajeel felt a vein pop in his forehead as he looked up at her retreating figure.

"Oi, oi, oi! Untie me at least! What witchcraft is this!?"

"It's Solid-Script, thanks for asking!" she stopped in her tracks to yell back at him.

"Since when was it this annoying!?"

"Since you caused a scene back at the hotel!"

"Lily, help me out here," Gajeel begged as he looked at the feline who was hovering around them with his Aera Magic.

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the memory of you _hitting me_ with a desk," he responded as he perched himself on Levy's shoulder, implying that he was definitely taking her side in this verbal bout.

"I didn't know you were there!"

"You shouldn't have thrown it in the first place!" Levy and Lily both retorted as if they were breathing fire.

"He asked for it."

"No, _you_ asked for it," the usually docile cat sighed. As much as he loved him, his human friend could sometimes be a complete idiot. "Just be glad that Levy got to you before I did."

Gajeel's eyes narrowed. "That guy had it coming since he just HAD to go and get rid of the scrap metal in my hotel room. I was saving it for a snack!"

"They were rusty and he was just cleaning the room like he was supposed to as a good housekeeper. And that happened a whole two months ago, now let it go. We have nowhere decent to stay in this town anymore because you got us kicked out," Lily said as he rubbed his temples to lessen the headache he got from arguing with a hard-headed Gajeel.

"Hey, that bastard ticked me off. And that joke he made? Eh?

_'I'll make sure not to ~steel~ any of your iron this time.'_

Oh, please, what kind of half-assed joke was that? Was that supposed to be funny?"

Levy and Lily watched in amusement as Gajeel babbled on about how the hotel boy cleared the rusty iron in his room; it's a wonder that he's naturally immune to tetanus. If a complete stranger were to have seen this, it would have been quite a sight to see; Gajeel was still in worm position, but he lifted his head up a bit to rest his chin on the floor. His frown was so pronounced that he looked ridiculous still lying on the floor.

"You didn't have to wreck their lobby over that," Levy crunched out.

With a sigh, the pierced man responded. "Look, I'll be good if you let me go, I promise." In all honesty, Gajeel did have some trouble getting out of the binding word; he couldn't just spread his arms and break it, but he could have if he mustered up his strength, being a giant dragon-slayer and all. Instead of admitting that he didn't want to break Levy's handwriting, though, he lied to himself that he really couldn't get out of it.

"Fine, we're almost there anyway." The original plan was to book a room and then meet their client, but since the little incident at the hotel, they pushed booking a room to later. The Solid-Script mage then let go of her magic and the "Constrict" disintegrated from Gajeel's body. The large man stood up and stretched like he'd never stretched before. Looking at his surroundings, he yawned at the pleasant, warm weather. Shirotsume Town always seemed to have a cozy feel to it, and it would make drowsy and want to take a nap.

Minutes of walking later, they arrived at their destination. It was an average sized house with nothing that stood out in particular from every other one. The house was on the edge of Shirotsume, though. Their backyard practically connected to the woods that led into the mountains. Lily perched himself on Gajeel's shoulder as they walked to the door. As the dragon slayer knocked on the door (rather roughly), Levy rummaged through her bag to find the job request form that they had taken from the board in their guild.

"Oh right; Gajeel, you took the job request form from me on our way here."

"What? No I didn't."

"Yes you did, it's not in _my_ bag. Check your pockets, we need to show that to them since they specifically asked us to in the description."

"That's stupid, we don't need it."

"We do," Lily retorted. In defeat, the man started to dig through his pockets. Not feeling anything paper-like, he flipped his pockets inside-out. All that fell out was some iron bolts and what appeared to be a used napkin.

"I don't have it," he said with a victorious smirk. "Check your bag again." Levy checked once more, but couldn't find it. With her hands still searching through her bag, she turned her head to look at Gajeel and gave him the_ I-can't-believe-you_ look. "I told you I don't have it, woman!" he said as if reading her mind.

"I do remember you taking it from her earlier," Lily interrupted. Upon looking at the droppings from his pockets, Levy saw something a little familiar. She picked up the used napkin and unfolded it. Gajeel then remembered and confessed that, since he had nothing else to use, he wiped his shirt with the paper after lunch.

"What!? How could you-" Levy was cut off from the sound of the front door opening.

"Hello?" a man around his late 30s poked his head out the door. At first glance, anyone could tell he was deprived of sleep from his blood-shot eyes and the dark circles under them. "Are you from Fairy Tail by any chance?" The three nodded and showed him their guild marks. "Then, do you have the request form?"

"Um..." Levy hesitated as she showed him the soggy and wrinkled sheet of paper in her hands. The man looked closer at it and crinkled his nose. It smelled of something like soup. Despite that, he looked at the bottom right corner. _"Fairy Tail, Magnolia,"_ he read.

"Why do you needa see that?" Gajeel asked.

"Ah, it's just an extra measure of security. I didn't mass print these requests; I personally made one for each guild."

The three mages just looked at each other, wondering why that was absolutely necessary, but they just went with it without further questioning. After looking them up and down once more, he let them into the house.

"Welcome to our humble abode," he said. Lily jumped down from Gajeel's shoulder and took a look around. "What an adorable cat that is!" the man said as he went to pet Lily.

"Why, thank you," the feline responded. Shocked, the man jumped up and screamed like a lady. "It talks!"

_"It?"_ Lily felt offended in a way. Right then, a woman came out from the next room to see what the commotion was all about. Seeing the guests, she smiled and welcomed them as well. "Hello," Lily greeted.

"It talks!" she responded and pointed at him in the same manner as her husband. Lily closed his eyes and mumbled to himself about some breathing techniques to calm down. _They keep calling me "it"..._ he sobbed.

"It flies, too," Gajeel added on and chuckled.

The couple calmed down and apologized for their behavior, then sat Gajeel, Levy, and Lily down in their living room. "Allow me to formally introduce myself: my name is Jerry Silda. This here is my wife, Mabel." The wizards then introduced themselves as well.

"Would you like something to drink?" Mabel offered.

"Let's just cut to the chase," Gajeel suggested. "What exactly are we in for? The paper was vague."

_Stop an intruder! _

_Find and catch the culprit._

_Reward 200,000 jewels. _

_No picture available. _

_May take a couple of days._

_More details will be provided._

That and the address were all that was shown on the job request sheet. Jerry nodded at Gajeel's demand and looked at his wife for a brief second. He scanned the living room quickly with fear in his eyes. After determining that no one else was in there with them, he started to speak with a voice that came out shaky. "There's someone coming into our house without permission," he shuddered. "We have no idea who he is nor who he could possibly be."

"Does he steal?" Levy inquired.

"He doesn't steal anything or do much damage to our physical belongings, but... but he's toying with our minds! Every so often, he comes in while we're still in the house, but we never notice until we see what he's left behind," the man managed to choke out before he could finish. There was a bit of silence so that he could get his act together.

"… So what the hell does he leave?" Gajeel asked, getting impatient.

"Gajeel," Levy glared at him, implying that he should be more understanding.

"No, no he's right, Ms. McGarden. I should hurry up with this," he said. He paused for a second to regain his train of thought. "They're never big, but he makes it so that they don't go unnoticed. He draws these… smiles in our house. They're not the everyday, cutesy smiles, either. Just the sight of them is enough to have us immediately fleeing the house. We could be in the kitchen cooking something, and when we leave the room for just a second then come back, a small, bloody damned smile is drawn on the wall right above it!"

"Do you have anything that you could show us?" Levy asked gently.

"No… no… we got rid of them as quickly as possible," Mabel said. "They were all drawn in blood."

"Blood?"

"Yes, we've had tests done on several of them, but they all point to eagles' blood."

"But eagles don't inhabit these areas," Levy manifested.

"That's what threw us off, too."

"Does it matter? Maybe he just happened to have some pet eagles around," Gajeel snorted.

Levy thought for a moment. He did make a good point.

"Who knows, people like this tend to leave some sort of signature behind on their works," she said. "He could have easily used pigs' blood since it's more common, but instead he used eagles' blood."

"Wait, but how do you know it's a man who's intruding?" Lily asked. Knowing the gender might come in handy when seeking out this crook.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I saw someone running out of our house in the middle of the night and," Jerry recalled, "he appeared to be a male, albeit his face was covered with a mask. His figure was definitely of a man, though."

_That night, Jerry heard noises downstairs while sleeping. Mabel was in the bathroom, so he went by himself to quietly check. He heard the front door creak open and felt a sudden chill while slowly going down the long staircase. Trying not to scare away the intruder so that he might be able to catch him, Jerry didn't turn on the lights. Step after step, he descended the stairs, and step after step, his bravery started to fade as he began to see the first floor more clearly. The bottom of the door was just visible to him as he got to the middle of the staircase. _

_... Is that a foot? _

_Jerry went down one more step and saw a pair of shoes by the open door. He went down a bit more and saw a pair of legs attached to them as well, but then he suddenly took notice of the way the shoes were positioned. The toes were idly pointing in his direction, meaning so was the body of the person in them. Realizing this mid-step and a second too late, Jerry landed on the next step. He suddenly felt a jolt of fright as blood rushed up to his head and ears, giving him a headache. His heart jumped and stopped up there in his chest when he saw the silhouette of a man looking up directly at him... unmoving. It was as if the intruder had long known that someone was coming down the stairs and he was simply watching. They held an unofficial staring contest for a bit longer, until the masked man screeched a vicious, ear-damaging laugh and ran out of the house._

After recalling the memory of that night, Jerry told them about the places that the intruder had drawn a bloody smile on: walls, mirrors, windows, and the ceiling above their bed once. The couple showed the trio around the house so that they could familiarize themselves with it. When Lily asked them why they didn't put up any surveillance lacrimas, they said that they have on several occasions, but they all quickly disappeared.

On the first floor was a small dining room to the right of the front door when entering, a living room to the left, a kitchen in the back behind the stairs that were directly in front of the door, though a little more to the right side, and a small bathroom next to the stairs. When going up to the second floor, all there was, was a hallway that split into several different rooms. Upon going upstairs, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a study were visible down the hallway to the left. On the right was a small storage room and a guest room. Judging from the house and the decor, it was evident that the couple was pretty well-off. They chose elegant furniture and had the place well kempt. Much of the decor was made of a wood like mahogany and had an antique feel to it.

When the tour of the house finished, Jerry stopped them at the front door. "For now, I think it would be best of you three laid low until something comes up in the house again. We'll contact you as soon as we see a smile or the intruder. But... could the three of you stay overnight every once in a while?"

With a nod, Levy then asked them if they knew a good place to stay other than the Shirotsume Hotel (since the sweetie Gajeel got them banned from it). Mabel suggested the Rita Inn nearby. It wasn't as big nor as good a quality as the Shirotsume Hotel, but it was still a pretty decent sized inn and doable. With their goodbyes, the three headed towards the direction that Mabel pointed them in.

The sun visibly started to tire of staying up in the sky all day and began to sink down little by little. As the sun sank into its slumber, clouds started to blanket the sky. Sooner or later, they were going to play their lullaby of rain. For now, the team could hear the lullaby of Gajeel's stomach growling angrily for food.

"Shut up," he snapped at his own starved organ. Chuckling to herself, Levy suggested they eat dinner at the inn after getting their rooms. But how long has it been since Levy went on a job with Gajeel? It feels like its been forever. Honestly, she thought he would use the favor she owed him to get her to make him a year's supply of iron or clean his entire apartment with a toothbrush. She's glad it was simply a partner request for a job. When she told her Shadow Gear members about it, they sighed, then smiled and let her go.

Around ten minutes of walking later, they saw the Rita Inn. It really was a quaint building, long with two floors. After entering, they went to the receptionist and asked for two rooms. They were out of luck, though, since there was only one left and all of the other inns were already packed full. Gajeel and Levy just sucked it up and got a room together for now. They agreed to getting separate ones later when someone booked out.

Their room was on the second floor near the left wing and had two queen sized beds and a bathroom. There was also a desk and a sofa by the window. Lily immediately plopped down onto the bed that happened to be on the right that was closer to the window, and stretched. Levy put her larger bag with clothes down on the one on the left that was closer to the bathroom, but she still held onto her purse bag.

Picking up Lily who was still stretched out on the bed, Levy plopped onto her own bed on her back and cuddled him. The warmth of her arms holding him and her face kissing his head made him feel cozy as he purred and cuddled her back.

Gajeel on the other hand just watched them with a twitching eye. The sight was so sweet that it disgusted him... or was he lying to himself? Actually, it wasn't a thorn in the eyes to watch Levy making cute and funny noises at Lily while playing with him as he made those rare kitten mews that he reserved only for a few people. Since Gajeel typically didn't do all that cuddling stuff and nose kisses, he didn't see Lily's adorable kitty side so often, just as he rarely got to see Levy's child-like side either. Gajeel saw Lily as a cat and a reliable partner; Levy saw him as an adorable cat and a good friend. What were they so happy about, anyway? They were acting like they haven't seen each other for months or some shit. Geez...

On the other hand, Gajeel's empty stomach whined again. With that, the three finally decided to go down and eat.

* * *

**A/N:** The story will pick up its pace eventually, but I was just wondering if you guys prefer the story moving along faster with its main plot or having little bits and pieces of more detail about how Gajeel, Levy, and Lily interact with each other during the job. Thanks for any reviews/favorites! I live off of those :)

* * *

_9x2_


End file.
